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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24972013">Of Fear and Felicity</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/anon7912/pseuds/anon7912'>anon7912</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Of Love and Legality [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Boyz (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Lawyers, And Hyunjae is his boss who loses his temper at everyone except maybe Juyeon, Drabble, Fluff, Juyeon is a smol bean fresh out of law school, Lee Jaehyun | Hyunjae is Whipped, M/M, One Shot, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:41:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,878</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24972013</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/anon7912/pseuds/anon7912</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee Hyunjae, renowned attorney and Juyeon’s new boss, terrifies and arouses him in equal parts.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lee Jaehyun | Hyunjae/Lee Juyeon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Of Love and Legality [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830361</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>77</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>427</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Of Fear and Felicity</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Send help, I can’t stop neglecting my actual duties in life in favour of writing JuJae fluff.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s an innocuous Friday night when it happens. Of course, doesn’t the worst day of one’s life always begin like that — innocuously, unassumingly? Like some cosmic ‘gotcha!’ or ‘hah! didn’t see that one coming did’ja?’. So really, maybe Juyeon should’ve known that Friday, this Friday specifically, was going to be the worst day of his life.</p><p>Perhaps it would be more apt to begin the narrative two months before The Incident. Two months ago, Juyeon, fresh out of law school having graduated with high honours, entered the building where the prestigious law firm, Lee, Kim &amp; Lee LLP, was housed. He was young, naive and full of aspirations to quickly climb the Big Law ladder and hopefully make partner in seven years or so. After all, he fought tooth and nail to get here — all his life, Juyeon has seen the sceptical expressions people make when he says he plans on becoming a lawyer, heard the patronising questions of, “Wouldn’t becoming an idol be more your speed?” or “But why waste a face as handsome as yours?” He always nods and smiles modestly while his insides churn with irritation, but none of that matters on his first day because he had finally made it.</p><p>He had gotten a coveted position as a first year associate at one of the biggest law firms in Seoul, and he did it with hard work alone. Early on, Juyeon realised he didn’t grasp concepts quite as quickly as some of his peers, but what he lacked in raw talent, he made up for triple in effort. He’s not inept by any stretch of course — he has an excellent eye for detail and legal-writing, but still, Juyeon prides himself on his dedication above all else.</p><p>When he enters the office on his first day, he’s immediately greeted by Jacob and Sangyeon whom he’d already met during the interview process. He bows eagerly to them, exclaiming, “Lee Sangyeon-ssi, Bae Jacob-ssi, it’s great to finally meet you in person!” They both smile back and echo his sentiments, Sangyeon clapping a warm hand on Juyeon’s shoulder to show him around the office.</p><p>Entertainment law is a thriving field in Seoul as a result of the recent uptick in the last two decades of K-pop stars and K-dramas that have taken the world by a storm. Juyeon has read all about the firm’s partners in law review articles, how almost every big Korean star is represented by the firm, so he’s a little star-struck as he’s led around the modern office. He meets the second partner, Younghoon, and for a moment Juyeon wonders if the whole office looks like idols or if it’s just the first three people he’s met so far. Unfortunately, as he’s introduced to the other associates and support staff, it seems that this firm really is filled with absurdly handsome individuals — even the young guys working in the mailroom, Sunwoo and Eric, are bizarrely good-looking.</p><p>“You’ll be thrown into the deep end soon, unfortunately, Juyeon-ssi. One of our clients just got hit with a lawsuit for allegedly copying another group’s song, so we’ve begun preparing opening briefs for that,” Sangyeon says as he shows Juyeon the enormous kitchen. Juyeon nods beside him, eyes darting around the sparkling expanse before him.</p><p>Sangyeon continues, “Hyunjae is the partner on that case, so you’ll be working closely with him. Here’s his office now, he should be in.” Sangyeon knocks briskly on the closed mahogany door, calling, “Hyunjae, you there?” After hearing a barked invitation from inside, he pushes the door open, smiling at Juyeon over his shoulder.</p><p>Juyeon walks in, his heart already hammering because everyone’s heard of Lee Hyunjae, the attorney who won the landmark case last year that cleared censorship laws on displays of LGBTQIA+ affection in Korean film media, thus catapulting him into a veritable Legal Hall of Fame. What Juyeon isn’t quite prepared for, however, is the sight of Lee Hyunjae standing in front of a mirror with his shirt barely buttoned at his sternum, tying his tie.</p><p>The gay part of Juyeon’s brain short circuits then and there.</p><p>“Jesus Sangyeon hyung!” Hyunjae shouts, quickly tugging his shirt closed. “I didn’t know you weren’t alone!” He swiftly buttons his shirt, and Juyeon can barely process what’s happening except the way those pale slender fingers dextrously work up the expanse of Hyunjae’s chest. His eyes travel upwards, only to come slamming into Hyunjae’s disgruntled expression, and <em>oh</em>, Juyeon is so fucked.</p><p>Lee Hyunjae is ridiculously gorgeous. He makes every man Juyeon has ever slept with look like mangled roadkill and every man Juyeon has ever dreamed about sleeping with look like a medieval troll lurking under a bridge. His hair is ash blonde - an uncommon occurrence among attorneys who rarely dye their hair - and even glaring, his large eyes are framed prettily by dark lashes, while his nose looks like the model picture every plastic surgeon in South Korea keeps in their office. Hyunjae’s mouth, though, is probably the most devastating part, because Juyeon can already feel himself writing soliloquies and having wet dreams in equal measure to those pouty pink lips.</p><p>He’s snapped out of his deeply inappropriate ogling when Sangyeon laughs jovially.</p><p>“Sorry Hyunjae-ya, just wanted to have you meet our new associate,” he says as he grips Juyeon’s shoulder friendlily. Juyeon takes this as his cue to bow, and when he straightens up, he smiles as normally as he can to the man before him.</p><p>“It’s really an honour to meet you, Lee Hyunjae-ssi, I wrote my senior law review article on your case last year-”</p><p>“Yes okay, I’m meeting a client in five minutes so you guys need to get out,” Hyunjae interrupts him, well-manicured brows arching irately. Juyeon startles and mumbles an, “Oh sorry, of course,” before turning around, Sangyeon and Jacob hot on his heels.</p><p>When the door closes behind him, Sangyeon says genially, “Sorry, he can be prickly in the morning.” And that’s that — that’s how Juyeon meets his law school hero, and promptly embarrasses the shit out of himself in the process.</p><p>Sangyeon leaves shortly after, and Juyeon follows Jacob into his office to fill out the remaining documents. As they settle into Jacob’s cosy office, Juyeon tentatively asks him, “Did I just completely humiliate myself in front of my new boss, Jacob-ssi?” Jacob laughs, a soft tinkling sound, and shakes his head.</p><p>“No, Hyunjae can be difficult at the best of times,” Jacob says almost fondly. “He’s a great guy and friend outside of work, but he’s pretty intense in the office so don’t let him scare you. Also we keep things pretty informal around here so you can just call me Jacob hyungnim; I expect the others will tell you to drop formalities soon too.” Juyeon nods and hums in response, but before he can say anything more on the subject of Hyunjae, Jacob pushes a thick stack of papers under his nose.</p><p>“Once you’re done reading through and signing these, I’ll set you up with IT so you can get your computer running,” he says pleasantly.</p><p>IT, Juyeon finds shortly after, is really just one person, a delicate looking young man who introduces himself as Choi Chanhee. His bony fingers fly over the keyboard of Juyeon’s computer, creating firm profiles and accounts for him to access. As he works, he chats happily to Juyeon, giving him the unofficial lowdown on everyone in the office.</p><p>“Haknyeon is an amazing paralegal but he doesn’t do great when it’s late at night, so if you need anything done urgently you should probably get it to him sooner rather than later,” Chanhee says as he clicks around furiously fast. “Younghoon’s the most easy going out of all the partners, mainly cause he works with actors instead of idols so their contracts tend to be easier to deal with. Also, no one’s going to say this to you explicitly, but don’t fuck up with Hyunjae-ssi. He’ll eat you alive,” Chanhee whispers, and Juyeon gulps.</p><p>Later, when the other associates, Kevin and Changmin, take him out for introductory drinks, they echo the same sentiment more delicately than Chanhee had phrased it. “He’s great once you get to know him, but yeah, he’ll tear you to pieces when you make a mistake,” Kevin shouts over the din of the bar. Beside him, Changmin nods fervently.</p><p>“My second month at the firm, he threw me out of a deposition because he didn’t like the tie I was wearing,” Changmin says, glancing behind his shoulder as if Hyunjae will appear at any second. Kevin rolls his eyes at his colleague, taking a large swig of his beer.</p><p>“C’mon that was once Changmin,” Kevin says exasperatedly. “Honestly, he’s not that bad deep down — a month ago, my dog got really sick and I was crying in my office when he walked by. He didn’t say anything but I got an email that night saying I got two paid days off.” Kevin pauses contemplatively, sipping at his drink as he does so. “Then again, the other day I missed a comma in a first draft brief and he yelled at me in a conference room for thirty minutes.” </p><p>Juyeon’s face goes ashen. “<em>Thirty</em> <em>minutes?</em>” he echoes incredulously. “How did he have enough things to say to yell for <em>thirty minutes?</em>”</p><p>Kevin and Changmin shrug, exchanging a look. “You’d be surprised, he’s pretty creative. I think he watches Gordon Ramsay and Simon Cowell clips in his spare time,” Changmin responds. “He made me send an email to himself, Younghoon hyungnim and Sangyeon hyungnim with just the words ‘I’m an oxygen thief’ in the subject line when I filed a motion incorrectly.”</p><p>Juyeon gapes at his two colleagues. “Isn’t that a worker’s rights violation or something? Can’t you report him?” he cries, the cold settling in his stomach less from the beer and more from sheer terror.</p><p>Changmin shakes his head, “Nah, most partners in big law firms are like this y’know? And he only gets so pissed cause he expects better from us. He made me sit next to him every time he filed for a week after, but it really helped.”</p><p>That night, Juyeon goes home drowning in a barrage of conflicting emotions. Everyone seemed extremely nice on his first day, and he’s still so excited to have gotten a job at the firm, but he feels suffocating dread when faced with the prospect of a furious tirade from Lee Hyunjae if he messes up. He breathes in deeply as he lays down in bed, eyes darting around in the dark.</p><p>It’s fine, he’ll be fine. He just won’t fuck up. Ever.</p><p>As the days progress and he settles into his job, this mantra never strays far from his mind. Juyeon is meticulously careful with everything he does, triple reading his emails before sending them even if it’s just a short note. Working with Hyunjae is both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, because on one hand, the man is brilliant and incisive, but on the other, Juyeon is physically scared for his life any time he takes a little too long to answer Hyunjae’s questions or when he’s unsure about something. It also doesn’t help that he’s still offensively attractive to Juyeon which means that he has to keep his libido in check anytime they’re within ten metres of one another.</p><p>On his second week, he’s searching through a public database for information that Hyunjae asked him for when there’s a knock on his doorframe. Juyeon looks up to see Hyunjae standing in the doorway, and the blonde seems to take that as an invitation to come in. </p><p>“Did you find the stats I asked you for yet?” he asks briskly, coming to stand by Juyeon’s computer. Juyeon’s throat closes up, and he tries to keep the quiver out of his voice when he answers.</p><p>“N-no, I’m still going through-” He cuts himself off when he sees Hyunjae raise an eyebrow and Jesus Christ, this is it, the day he dies a slow painful death at the violent hands of his very handsome boss. </p><p>But instead of chewing Juyeon out like he expects, Hyunjae just clicks his tongue. “You have your filters set too broadly, that’s why it’s taking you so long,” he says. Juyeon frowns at the monitor in front of him, trying to figure out what Hyunjae is referring to when his boss suddenly bends down and reaches over his shoulder to point at the screen while his other arm cages Juyeon in between the desk and Hyunjae’s chest.</p><p>“See, you’ve set the year range as 1960 to 2020 when you only need to be looking at 2000 to 2020,” Hyunjae murmurs, and then there’s a soft pressure against Juyeon’s hand on the mouse as his boss brushes his hand off it to replace it with his own. Juyeon can barely breathe because Hyunjae’s face is literally right there next to his, and all he can think is <em>oh shit he touched me, wow his lips look soft, would he like it if I bit on the bottom one- STOP.</em></p><p>Juyeon swallows rather audibly as he feels an errant twitch in his trousers, and he leaps as far away as he can from Hyunjae while still seated in his chair. Hyunjae gives him an odd look but continues clicking on the screen.</p><p>“When it comes to databases, you should really try and narrow things down as much as possible, and third party spaces are surprisingly helpful if you’ve got too big a dataset. It’s stuff like this that I always say they should teach you in law school, cause people end up graduating without having tangible research skills- are you okay?” Hyunjae stems his explanation when he sees Juyeon’s eyes blinking rapidly back at him.</p><p>“Do you feel unwell?” he asks confusedly, trying to peer into Juyeon’s face.</p><p>“N-no I’m good, great!” Juyeon chokes out, attempting a reassuring smile that probably looks like a grimace instead. Hyunjae frowns, and Juyeon can’t help but notice the way the tiny crinkle between his brows makes him look so cute.</p><p>“You sure? You should take the day off if you don’t feel well, it’s honestly not a big deal,” he offers uncertainly. Juyeon shakes his head adamantly, taking a cleansing breath.</p><p>“I’m really okay, Hyunjae-ssi,” he says.</p><p>Hyunjae huffs out a laugh at that. “Hyungnim is fine Juyeon, it’s been two weeks of you calling me Hyunjae-ssi and I think we’re well acquainted enough.”</p><p>A real smile stretches across Juyeon’s face then, and he feels strangely warm inside. “Okay hyungnim,” he replies, and the word feels pleasant on his tongue. A small breath stutters out from between Hyunjae’s lips, and Juyeon’s eyes follow the delicate bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallows.</p><p>“Uh, you were saying about the database?” Juyeon asks, swivelling his chair back to face the computer, and Hyunjae snaps out of whatever reverie he’s in, continuing his lecture as if he’d never been interrupted.</p><p>That night, as he’s about to log off of his computer to go home for the day, he sees an email alert pop up at the corner of his screen. Groaning softly, Juyeon prays to himself that it isn’t a request for more work, but when he clicks it open, a small grin curls at the corner of his lips.</p><p>He had sent an email to Hyunjae earlier apologising for taking too long to get him the information off of the databases, and Hyunjae has just emailed him back. It’s short and pithy, but it makes something flutter in his stomach nonetheless.</p><p>
  <em>Juyeon,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>No need to apologise — everyone learns on the job at the beginning. I’ve attached a couple of guides to sites that we use often in the firm that you can look over. Let me know if you have questions.</em><br/>
<br/>
<em>Also if I ever don’t reply to email quickly enough, I’ve written my personal number below. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Work hard,</em>
</p><p><em>Lee Hyunjae<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br/>
</span></em> <em>Partner</em></p><p>Juyeon looks at the eleven digits illuminated on his screen, pulling his phone out to copy it down. He’s in a taxi on the way home when he decides to text Hyunjae, and he bites his lip as he writes draft after draft. He’s almost home by the time he settles on one, and after staring at it for a moment, he hits send, heart hammering in his chest.</p><p>
  <em>Lee Juyeon:</em>
</p><p>Hyungnim, this is Juyeon. Thank you for<br/>
sending me those guides, I will read them<br/>
carefully. Hope you have a good night!</p><p>Juyeon pockets his phone, not really expecting a response, but not a moment later, there’s a short buzz.</p><p>
  <em>Lee Hyunjae:</em>
</p><p>Don’t read them tonight.<br/>
Breaks are important. :-)</p><p>And Juyeon laughs, partly because he hasn’t seen a smile emoji with a nose in a decade, partly because he feels weirdly giddy from the quick reply and the fact that he and Hyunjae are texting one another.</p><p>It’s almost easy to forget that Hyunjae can be terrifying after that. Juyeon is still just as careful in everything he does, but the edge of tension he felt the first fortnight has worn off. Hyunjae is still somewhat recalcitrant, and he’s not the most emotive of people so occasionally, when he runs into the blonde in the hallway, Juyeon barely gets a brisk head nod in return to his cheerful greeting. Still, it’s nice to feel like he’s finally settling in with everyone at the firm. He and Younghoon often get coffee together in the morning, and Sangyeon has shown him numerous videos of his nine-month old baby. Once in a while, he’ll even get a small smile from Hyunjae when their eyes meet in a conference room. All in all, things are good at his new job.</p><p>That is, until one morning a month after he joins, Juyeon hears muffled shouting from outside his door. He had closed his office door earlier so he could focus on reviewing some documents, but when a familiar sharp, irritable voice echoes into his office, he steps out worriedly. There, in the middle of the enormous space where everyone can see, Hyunjae is tearing into Haknyeon, the paralegal.</p><p>“Explain to me again how, in your pea sized brain, you missed the date of the hearing?” Hyunjae snarls furiously. Haknyeon’s face is white with terror and he shakes under Hyunjae’s incensed glare.</p><p>“I’m so sorry Hyunjae hyungnim, the judge pushed the date forward and I guess I missed the email alert and-”</p><p>“And now you have potentially cost our client hundreds of millions of won,” Hyunjae interrupts with a growl, his knuckles flexing tensely. Hakneon bows his head low, shoulders shuddering as apology after apology spills from his lips. Hyunjae stares at him for a second before sighing deeply, pinching his nose bridge. Juyeon stares at the two of them, wanting to step in and defend Haknyeon but it really is an enormous mistake he just made. He himself would’ve been furious if a paralegal made him miss a hearing.</p><p>“Alright, stand up. I’ll talk to opposing counsel, it should be fine,” Hyunjae says quietly, laying a hand on Haknyeon’s shoulder. “I know it was an accident but you have to be more careful.” Haknyeon nods quickly, still chanting apologies at Hyunjae’s retreating back as he turns to leave. For a second, Hyunjae’s head turns and he makes eye contact with Juyeon. His dark brown eyes open wide, and Juyeon’s breath hitches at being caught staring so he quickly shuts his office door without further ado.</p><p>His heart is thumping when he sits back down, ruminating over the scene he just witnessed. The nervous tension in his chest is back, the fragile comfort he felt with Hyunjae dissipating quickly, leaving only a clear understanding — Juyeon <em>cannot</em> fuck up.</p><p>That night, he has his first dream about Hyunjae. Actually, to be more accurate, Juyeon has his first nightmare about him. He’s had more mortifying dreams involving wet, pink lips, sweat slicked blonde hair and gasping breaths than he cares to admit, but this is the first time a dream involving his handsome boss is less than pleasurable. It’s hazy and terrifying with flashes of vivid moments - Juyeon filing the wrong brief, sending incriminating evidence to opposing counsel, saying the wrong thing in court, all ending in public humiliation at Hyunjae’s vicious criticism - interspersing the malaise and tension of his subconscious.</p><p>When he wakes up the next morning, he’s in a cold sweat, and Juyeon rubs his face as he contemplates which is worse — toe-curling arousal from dreaming about his boss or bone-chilling fear from the same thing. He groans softly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He needs to get a fucking grip.</p><p>The unnerving tenor of that dream colours his behaviour over the subsequent days. After being forcibly reminded of just who he’s working for, Juyeon falls back into a pattern of over-analysing every move and living in abject terror of messing up in front of Hyunjae. He hardly notices it himself, but the easy camaraderie they had developed over the last few weeks chills a little, with Juyeon being too tired from overworking to engage in banter, too stressed to notice Hyunjae’s smiles from across the room, and too nervous to prevent his tone from being clipped. If Hyunjae himself notices the change, however, he graciously neglects to point it out.</p><p>A number of weeks later, Juyeon is dashing out of the cafe below their building with an enormous Americano when he runs into the partners’ secretary, Hyunjoon. He’s late, he knows - he was supposed to get a copy of the reply brief to Hyunjae five minutes ago - but he simply couldn’t withstand another minute in the office without this third cup of coffee. Juyeon has been slammed with work recently, sleeping later and later every night, and the fact that his fear of messing up has returned only means he takes longer checking his work over and his brain is more taxed with trying to catch every little mistake. As such, he barely sees the pale young man before almost barrelling into him.</p><p>“Hey hyung! Woah big cup of coffee,” Hyunjoon grins at him. “Long day?”</p><p>“You have no idea Hyunjoon,” Juyeon groans back. “I was up till three last night trying to finish this brief even though I’m still late. Is Hyunjae hyungnim in his office?”</p><p>Hyunjoon nods sympathetically. “Yeah, I’m actually getting coffee for him right now. I’ll see you upstairs,” he says with a quick wave and Juyeon nods to him before he strides off.</p><p>When he enters Hyunjae’s office a few minutes later with the reply brief tucked under his arm and an apology on his lips, he sees Hyunjae with his head buried in a thick book of legal codes. Without looking up, Hyunjae calls, “Joonie baby, you’re an angel, thanks for-”</p><p>He stops abruptly when he looks up and realises Juyeon is standing awkwardly in his doorway. Immediately the tips of his ears flush red, and he stutters, “Oh I- shit sorry I thought you were Hyunjoon with coffee.” Juyeon smiles politely and waves away the apology.</p><p>“No worries, here’s the brief,” he says, placing it on Hyunjae’s desk. “I’m really sorry it’s late, I thought I had time to get coffee but it took so long and-”</p><p>Hyunjae cuts him off with a wry chuckle. “Yeah, huge cup like that would probably take a while to prepare.” He peers at Juyeon carefully then, frowning a little. “How many cups has it been Juyeon? You look exhausted,” he says, sounding perturbed. Juyeon starts a little at the concern he hears in his boss’ voice, but it must be in his head, he thinks, because why would Lee Hyunjae care about something as unimportant as how much sleep a first year associate is getting?</p><p>“Just my third, I’m fine hyungnim,” Juyeon says casually. “I’ll get started on evidence production, let me know what edits you have to the brief,” he bows quickly and retreats from Hyunjae’s office, sipping gratefully at the hot coffee in his hand. Juyeon misses the deepening crease between Hyunjae’s eyebrows as he watches his subordinate leave, the dark circles under Juyeon’s normally bright eyes troubling him more than he’d like to admit.</p><p>It takes Hyunjae three hours to finish reading and editing the brief, and it takes another two for Juyeon to incorporate all of his comments into the new version. As such, by the time he has it printed and stapled for Hyunjae to read over, it’s eleven at night and Juyeon’s eyes sting if he doesn’t blink at least once every five seconds. Walking down the dark hallways illuminated only by a few lights (the firm has energy-saving modes on all of their overhead light fixtures), he barely registers the muffled voices in Hyunjae’s office as he draws near. All he sees is that the door has been left ajar, a clear indication that there’s no need to knock, so, half-asleep, Juyeon slips in.</p><p>It takes him a moment to register what he’s seeing, but then Juyeon is wide awake because Hyunjae is sitting on the small leather sofa in his office with Hyunjoon’s legs over his lap, the two of them joking happily over takeout boxes. When he enters, the two of them spring apart, Hyunjoon almost toppling over the side of the armrest in his haste to get away.</p><p>“Shit I’m so sorry!” Juyeon exclaims, hurriedly backing out of the office. He slams the door shut, groaning as he rubs his tired eyes. Of all the things he didn’t need to see, his boss canoodling with his secretary after a long day is at the very top of the list. If he feels a small twinge of envy at Hyunjoon being the one who’s allowed to snuggle up to someone as unacceptably beautiful as Hyunjae, then that’s for Juyeon to know alone. Now the pet name Hyunjae uttered so casually earlier makes sense — the two of them are together.</p><p>Just then, the door opens and Hyunjae pokes his head out, a blush high on his cheeks. “Sorry about that, please come in Juyeon,” he invites, sounding painfully uncomfortable. When he opens the door wider, Hyunjoon scuttles out without making eye contact, and Juyeon walks in.</p><p>“Really sorry, that was- uh, not- really sorry,” Hyunjae stutters as he sits down. Juyeon smiles reassuringly at him, shaking his head.</p><p>“No need at all,” he placates. There’s a beat where no one says anything, and then Hyunjae clears his throat.</p><p>“So what can I do for you Juyeon? I didn’t even realise you were still in the office,” he says, crossing his hands before him.</p><p>“Oh, I just wanted to give you the brief. I finished editing it according to your comments.” Juyeon places the printed document on Hyunjae’s table, noting Hyunjae’s look of surprise.</p><p>“You finished editing it? I didn’t expect this tonight,” he murmurs as he flips through the first few pages.</p><p>Juyeon barely holds back a yawn before replying, “Thought you might want to look at it before the client meeting tomorrow.” Then, because he’s running on three hours of sleep, he actually does yawn, and Hyunjae looks up at him with a worried expression.</p><p>“Jesus Juyeon, how many hours have you slept? You look beat,” he mutters, standing up to approach the younger. Juyeon shakes his head, running a large hand through his dishevelled hair.</p><p>“M’fine, don’t worry. I’ll go home now,” he says, bowing to Hyunjae. A small hand on his wrist stops him, however.</p><p>“No, let me drive you. You’ll never catch a taxi at this hour.” Juyeon is about to retort bemusedly that it’s Seoul, and there are always taxis, but Hyunjae is already shrugging on his coat and turning off his office light.</p><p>“Are you sure hyungnim? It’s no trouble for me honestly,” Juyeon says as he follows Hyunjae out of his office.</p><p>Hyunjae rolls his eyes expressively at Juyeon. “Shut up Juyeonie.” And Juyeon would be more excited by the fond nickname if he wasn’t about to collapse standing up, so he just nods with a slightly dopey smile on his face while they walk towards his office for him to grab his coat. He shucks it on, and is about to walk out when Hyunjae stops in front of him.</p><p>“Your collar looks like slovenly,” he says as he reaches up to adjust Juyeon’s coat, and Juyeon blinks blearily back, mumbling, “Sorry.”</p><p>It’s hard to say what happens after that because one moment, he’s telling Hyunjae his address while being sheep-herded into the passenger side of Hyunjae’s BMW and in the next, it’s pitch black and they’re parked in front of his building.</p><p>Juyeon frowns, trying to clear his eyes. “We’re here already?” he asks groggily. Then, he bolts up ramrod straight. “Shit did I fall asleep on you? I’m so sorry hyungnim, that’s so rude-”</p><p>Hyunjae cuts him off with a laugh, and Juyeon takes that brief respite to stare at the way Hyunjae’s features look illuminated under the garish street light. Even bathed in an unflattering orange glow, Hyunjae is shockingly handsome, the pearly whites of his teeth flashing as he laughs. Juyeon especially enjoys the way crinkles form right underneath Hyunjae’s eyes when he smiles, making him look younger and more carefree.</p><p>“It’s fine Juyeon, you were exhausted,” Hyunjae says, smiling at him over the console. Juyeon smiles back, checking his phone, but he jumps again when he sees the time.</p><p>“It took an hour and a half to get here?” he asks incredulously. It never takes him more than thirty minutes, maybe fourty five if it’s rush hour. Hyunjae looks abashedly out the window before saying, “You looked so peaceful so I just let you sleep for a bit.” Juyeon blinks at him, sluggishly trying to wrap his mind around the notion that his notoriously terrifying boss just drove him home and let him sleep in the car for who knows how long.</p><p>He means to be grateful and thank Hyunjae profusely for the kindness that he has shown him, but instead what comes out is, “You just sat there and watched me sleep for an hour?” Hyunjae’s mouth falls open, and he sputters for a moment before seeing the small grin on Juyeon’s face.</p><p>“See if I ever drive you home again you little shit,” he grumbles, pressing a button to unlock the door. “Get out,” he orders flatly, and this makes Juyeon laugh in delight. He bares his teeth in a wide smile at his boss, throwing a teasing, “Goodnight hyungnim,” over his shoulder as he closes the door behind him.</p><p>Hyunjae doesn’t deign to respond, although Juyeon can see a small smile twisting at the corner of his very pretty mouth. Juyeon snaps himself out of that quickly, however — Hyunjae is in a relationship, so ogling his attractive boss is now firmly off limits. Even so, he can’t help the little tightness he feels in his chest as he falls asleep that night when he thinks of the way Hyunjae’s eyes turn into lovely stars when he laughs.</p><p>The next day, Juyeon is in the mailroom chatting with Eric and Sunwoo about the baseball game coming up between South Korea and Japan when he feels a small tap on his shoulder. He turns, surprised, to see Hyunjoon shifting awkwardly beside him.</p><p>“Do you have a second?” he mumbles, and Juyeon nods, waving a quick goodbye to the other two. He follows Hyunjoon out into the hallway and into a small alcove by the mailroom.</p><p>“What’s up? Is everything okay?” Juyeon asks the younger. He hasn’t worked at the firm for long, but he and Hyunjoon get along really well. The boy is witty and pleasant, and they both died a little to one another when the firm got a well-known hip-hop dancer as a client.</p><p>Hyunjoon fidgets with his hands for a second, biting his naturally downturned lip. “Listen, about yesterday...”</p><p>Juyeon’s brow clears. Of course, how could he have forgotten? He quickly places a reassuring hand on Hyunjoon’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll be discreet. It’s none of my business y’know?” he says with a smile. Hyunjoon frowns, looking rather baffled for a second, and he’s about to reply when Juyeon’s phone buzzes.</p><p>“Damn, I told Kevin and Changmin I’d get lunch with them, I gotta go,” Juyeon says. He claps his hand on Hyunjoon’s bicep lightly, tapping the side of his nose. “Don’t stress, Joon-ah,” he chuckles, striding off.</p><p>Juyeon effectively forgets the conversation after that; work gets even busier if that’s possible, and he’s up to his ears with depositions and preparations to the point where he falls asleep thinking about the sound of a gavel echoing in a courtroom. All of this stress ultimately culminates in that fateful Friday — The Incident. The day Juyeon finally fucks up.</p><p>The morning starts off normally, good even. He exercises as he usually does before work, and the treadmill seems to run smoother than usual beneath his trainers, the water temperature in his shower heats up faster than usual, and the ever-present cowlick on the back of his head seems to be mercifully docile under his fingers that day. All in all, then, Juyeon thinks things have gone pretty smoothly.</p><p>The work day itself, too, goes well. He gets all of his citations checked well before his midday coffee, and Sangyeon baked muffins the previous night so he brought extras to the office. Juyeon actually sees the email about them an hour after it was sent, so he isn’t expecting there to be anything but a couple of cupcake wrappers left when he sets off to the kitchen. His suspicions are confirmed as he walks in, but Hyunjae, who just happens to be standing there sipping on a glass of water with an untouched one in front of him, pushes it towards him nonchalantly before strolling off with a carefully schooled air of indifference. Juyeon stares at his retreating back with a bemused smile, but he doesn’t have time to ruminate on the matter much longer because then his phone buzzes with a research request from Younghoon.</p><p>So, to sum up, his Friday really is quite normal, if not good. In fact, when it gets to around six that night, Juyeon thinks he actually might be able to go home at a reasonable hour. He’s just about to start closing up the browser windows on his desktop when he gets a call on his office phone. He barely has time to say a greeting when Hyunjae’s voice comes tersely over the receiver.</p><p>“Come to the conference room.” The line goes dead immediately, and Juyeon’s heart starts thudding uncomfortably. He walks quickly out of his office, and as he draws near to the large meeting room, he sees almost the entire office crammed in there, their sleeves rolled up and ties askew. It looks like a war room.</p><p>As soon as Hyunjae sees him approaching, he stands up and gestures for Juyeon to come in. Even with his hair in total disarray and shirt collar slightly rumpled, he still is the most devastatingly handsome person Juyeon has ever known personally.</p><p>“Juyeon, did you get a letter from opposing counsel informing us that they had gotten permission to file their motion early?” Hyunjae barks tensely.</p><p>Juyeon frowns. “A letter?”</p><p>Kevin looks up now, and Juyeon can see two distinct tufts on the sides of his hair where he’s clearly been pulling at it. “Yeah, our case with that new girl group? The suing party’s legal team accidentally addressed it to you instead of Hyunjae for some reason. Creker LLP.”</p><p>Suddenly, all the blood drains from Juyeon’s face. He sees the pale cream envelope with the dark blue embossing in his mind’s eye, replays the moment Eric brought it to him and how he threw it to the side of his desk because he was in the middle of filing an enormous motion.</p><p>“What, what happened? Do you know where it is?” Hyunjae asks, forearms rippling from where he grips the chair in front of him.</p><p>“Oh god, I completely forgot about it, I got it a week ago and just left it on my desk and oh Christ I’m so fucking sorry,” Juyeon blabbers frantically, his pulse threatening to cause his veins to rupture. Kevin goes white, as does everyone else in the room, and they all suddenly turn to look at Hyunjae. There’s a silence that seems to drag on for eons before Hyunjae opens his mouth to speak.</p><p>“It’s fine Juyeon, everyone makes mistakes. I’m just glad we actually got a letter instead of it being those scumbags lying to us,” Hyunjae says quietly, picking up a document riddled with highlighting and red pen marks. The shock in the room is palpable and thick, but Juyeon can barely process the astounded looks on Kevin and Changmin’s faces or the slightly tickled smirk tugging at the corner of Hyunjoon’s mouth because he’s too busy trying not to collapse on the floor from panic. This is so much worse than Hyunjae yelling at him because he’s clearly going to save it for later to rip into Juyeon, or worse, he’s just going to fire him for being an incompetent halfwit.</p><p>Juyeon’s breath is coming too quickly now, light spots dancing before his eyes as he frenetically tries to control his racing heartbeat, and he continues to mumble a slew of apologies. This is it, the Incident that ends his career, the fatal mistake that erases all of his hard work and leaves him as an unemployed twenty four year old living out of his parents’ basement. He barely registers the hand on his arm pulling him out of the room, but when he does, he realises Hyunjae is leading him to the alcove by the mailroom and oh fuck, Juyeon was right because Hyunjae is about to be so unbelievably brutal that he’s taking him out of the room to lambaste him into the next century.</p><p>“Hyungnim, I’m so so sorry, I was filing a motion when I got it and it just slipped my mind because I’ve been so tired lately and I know it’s not an excuse, I’m just so fucking sorry but please don’t fire me, I love this job and I-”</p><p>His rambling is stemmed when Hyunjae asks with a seemingly genuinely confused tone, “Fire you? Why would I fire you?”</p><p>Juyeon’s eyes fly open at that, and he’s sure his mouth is hanging wide in a deeply unattractive way. “Because I’m a useless waste of space who was clearly given a law degree by Korean Oprah - ‘you get a degree, you get a degree, and you get a degree’?” he quotes an anecdote that Changmin told him over coffee when Hyunjae said those exact words after Changmin misspelled “statute” in an email to a client.</p><p>Hyunjae frowns, his perfect brows puckering just so. “Who the fuck told you you’re a waste of space? I’m going to have a word with them,” he growls.</p><p>Juyeon gapes. “N-no one, but aren’t you furious at me hyungnim? I fucked up colossally,” he mumbles, filled with shame and guilt, the spots of light reappearing behind his eyelids that are squeezed shut again. A soft hand on his elbow makes him start.</p><p>“Hey, stop that. We all mess up sometimes, but one mistake doesn’t make you a bad lawyer,” Hyunjae says gently, and Juyeon wants to protest because that’s exactly the opposite of what Hyunjae said one time to Kevin when Juyeon was within earshot after the young lawyer had used the wrong Post-it size for a label. Instead, he just blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.</p><p>“Why’re you being so nice to me?” Juyeon asks dubiously. He really shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth like this, not when Hyunjae, who has torn every attorney in this office a new one after any sort of infraction, is so kindly letting this enormous failure go, but Juyeon didn’t become a lawyer because he shies away from the hard questions. “I fucked up, I know that. I’m not some soft kid who you need to molly coddle, I know I can do better.”</p><p>Because that’s just it isn’t it — Juyeon doesn’t want Hyunjae to think that this is all he’s capable of since he knows the reason Hyunjae gets so angry is because he thinks his employees can do better, so if he’s not getting furious now, it must be that he thinks this is just the upper limit of Juyeon’s capability.</p><p>Hyunjae peers at Juyeon, nonplussed. “I don’t think you’re soft or a kid Juyeon, and I’m not trying to molly coddle you.”</p><p>“Then why aren’t you pissed?” Juyeon cries. “Is it cause you don’t think I’m capable of doing better? Because I am, I worked really hard to get here, and I know I can be an asset to the team if you just gave me another chance-”</p><p>“Woah woah I don’t think you’re not capable of doing better Juyeon,” Hyunjae says, throwing his hands up in a pacifying matter. “You’re kidding right? I think you’re the best law school graduate I’ve seen in a long time. The reason I’m not angry isn’t because I think this mistake is reflective of your capacity.”</p><p>“Then why aren’t you?” Juyeon asks, jutting his chin out defiantly. Hyunjae starts a little, and to Juyeon’s surprise, a flush creeps it’s way up Hyunjae’s neck and onto his high cheekbones. The blonde coughs awkwardly, pulling at his collar.</p><p>“I don’t know, I just don’t have a bad temper,” he mumbles.</p><p>“You shredded Kevin’s draft brief in front of him last week,” Juyeon deadpans. Hyunjae’s indignant gasp would be adorable if Juyeon wasn’t so baffled.</p><p>“Who told you that?” he squawks.</p><p>“Your boyfriend,” Juyeon replies, quirking his eyebrow. This puts an abrupt end to Hyunjae’s disgruntled huffing, and it’s his boss’ turn to look befuddled.</p><p>“My boyfriend?” he intones, staring. Juyeon nods slowly, eyes shifting sideways briefly as if to ascertain if Hyunjae is pulling some sort of prank on him.</p><p>“Who do you think is my boyfriend?” Hyunjae asks with narrowed eyes.</p><p>Juyeon blinks. “Hyunjoon?”</p><p>Hyunjae arms flail as he lets out a rather avian screech. “You think I’m dating Hyunjoon?!” Juyeon barely has any time to nod before Hyunjae cuts in loudly, “Because I’m not! We’re just friends! <em>I’m</em> <em>not!</em>”</p><p>Juyeon shushes him quickly. “Hey it’s okay! I already said this to him but I’ll be discreet. I haven’t told anyone about what happened a couple weeks ago, so seriously, you don’t have to worry about me gossiping like that.”</p><p>“We’re not fucking dating!” Hyunjae snaps frantically. His tone makes Juyeon jump, and there’s a pregnant pause as the two of them stare at each other followed by Juyeon nodding wearily.</p><p>“Uh okay...if you say so,” he says. He’s not sure he believes Hyunjae, but even as his brain questions the assertion sceptically, his heart does a weird skip-and-a-flop in his ribcage at the notion that Hyunjae might be single. Hyunjae coughs awkwardly, scratching the nape of his neck, clearly embarrassed by his outburst.</p><p>“I mean- I just, ugh- that is, I especially wouldn’t want <em>you</em> to think I’m dating Hyunjoon,” he enunciates slowly, words laden with meaning that Juyeon doesn’t quite understand.</p><p>“Alright...” Juyeon trails off, still staring at his boss, the man who has given him just as many nightmares as he has embarrassing morning boners. Hyunjae blinks at him obviously, as if trying to get him to understand some message like it’s morse code embedded in each flutter of his eyelashes. When Juyeon says nothing and continues to look dumbly back, Hyunjae groans and runs his hand over his eyes.</p><p>“God, it’s just my luck that I have a crush on a pinhead,” he mutters into his hands, and for a second, Juyeon can’t focus on anything except how delicate the man’s knuckles are, how pale and pretty his fingers look under the stark light of the office. Then his words click into place, echoing hollowly in the caverns of Juyeon’s skull and he can do nothing except gape rather unattractively back.</p><p>“Crush on a pinhead?” he parrots back stupidly. When he sees the corners of Hyunjae’s lovely mouth tug upwards into the beginning of a smile, he asks faintly, “You what?” The tentative smile on Hyunjae’s face is a full-fledged grin now, all white teeth and rosy lips as he chuckles.</p><p>“I think I’ve gay-panicked to Hyunjoon every day for the last two months because of you,” he admits sheepishly, sharp eyes still trying to gauge Juyeon’s reaction. Juyeon just swallows, his throat unspeakably dry now.</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>His lacklustre response wipes the beam right off of Hyunjae’s face, and his eyes are suddenly wide with alarm.</p><p>“Fuck, I’m so sorry, are you not gay? Or not into me specifically? Did I totally misread the situation?” he asks, panicked. “Oh fuck this is such an HR violation, Jacob’s gonna fucking kill me, fuckity fucking damn it,” he chants, burying his face in his hands. He’s about to apologise again when Juyeon’s brain finally manages to kickstart after apparently having taken leave for a moment, and he hurries to grab Hyunjae’s wrists.</p><p>“No no I’m totally gay! Super gay! Like love rom-coms-and-power-bottoms very super gay!” he blabbers quickly, although his face spontaneously lights on fire when the last five words spill from his lips. He claps a hand over his mouth, heart rate rapidly increasing to an unhealthy degree. Hyunjae’s mouth falls open as he gawks at Juyeon who is contemplating the possibility of throwing himself into a rocky chasm right about now.</p><p>“I- okay, that’s...great,” Hyunjae says thickly, his eyes suddenly glassy. Juyeon bites his lip, this time a small smile creeping onto his own face as he watches Hyunjae open and close his mouth silently for a second.</p><p>“Great,” Juyeon repeats back, eyes twinkling. A sudden jolt of confidence runs through him, and later, when he’s repeating this moment over and over again in his brain he’ll wonder if he had a death wish, but for now he manages to say rather rakishly, “If you ever want to gay-panic directly at this pinhead sometime, we should get drinks.” He scurries out of the mailroom then, too high on the knowledge that his violently good-looking boss has a crush on him and his own foolhardy bravery at having just asked out aforementioned boss.</p><p>Luckily, he manages to drop the offending letter off with Kevin in the conference room and logout of his computer before Hyunjae emerges from the alcove, and by the time he gets home, Juyeon is having a full-fledged spiralling devolution about the events of the night. Just when he’s about to call Jacob to literally quit before he’s fired for sexually propositioning his <em>boss</em>, he gets a text. With trembling hands, he opens it, a short breath stuttering out when he reads his phone screen.</p><p>
  <em>Lee Hyunjae:</em>
</p><p>Just emailed you — please fix the citation on attachment pg 34.<br/>
Also drinks tmrw? I’ll pick you up.</p><p>If Juyeon shouts into his pillow for a full minute that night, no one has to know.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed it! After writing whipped Juyeon, I thought Hyunjae deserved a turn at being the one who’s whipped. Let me know what you think and till next time!</p><p>If you want to chat or get updates on my work, come find me on Twitter (link in profile)! </p><p>- Anon</p></blockquote></div></div>
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